A disastrous third stage for the M-Sport team as both Ott Tänak and Pierre-Louis Loubet retired from Rally Finland.
Tänak had started Friday as the rally leader after winning yesterday’s opening stage in Harju. The 2019 World Champion lost his lead in Friday’s opener to current championship leader Kalle Rovanperä.
In the next Lankamaa stage, Tänak was forced to retire after losing power mid-stage. The Estonian was initially able to drive in EV mode but eventually had to stop with smoke coming from under the bonnet.
“In a very fast place, it seems like we touched a bedrock or something in the road in compression. Obviously, it’s broken the sump guard, it went through the sump guard. From underneath, at the moment, I can see that the starter motor is cracked. The engine is fully broken.
“We had a critical situation [with the fire]. There was probably fire immediately, but we tried to cool it down in EV mode, hoping that it would cool down. But obviously, with the exhaust and everything full of oil, it can burn down quite quickly. We were lucky to have two distinguishers here [to put the fire out].”
Regarding a possible return tomorrow under Rally2 regulations, Tänak said: “It’s quite probable that there is a hole in the engine somewhere. So, I think that this one should be finished.”
It was also game over for Pierre-Louis Loubet in SS3. The Frenchman ran wide in a right-hander and clipped a rock on the outside of the corner, damaging the rear-left of his Ford Puma Rally1.
After stage 3, it’s Rovanperä who leads from Evans (+2.2s) and Neuville (+5s).
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Photo: M-Sport